S12.E04: The Blind Auditions, Part 4

[Vyk]

From TV Guide:

The blind auditions continue.

Back to a two-hour episode.

[Dots And Stripes]

The Cher guy was probably my favorite for the night. Him and the guy who sang Cat Stevens. There wasn't really anyone who impressed me or who I thought I'd want to see at the finale. 

The Cassidy was a disappointment. His style sounded really affected. I looove Shirley Jones so I was hoping to like him. Maybe if Alicia can get him to just sing he'll do better.

Gwen needs to stop with that little girl stuff immediately. Ugh. She's getting a surprising number of artists considering she has a less than stellar track record on this show.

Not feeling Alicia. I assume part of that is her new role as Adam's cheerleader. She doesn't quite seem to be into the playful banter. She's mostly throwing cold water on it all.

Still loving Blake's lines. He's adorable.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Man this episode was a giant feast of meh. If you were generously grading on a 1-10 scale....it was a whole lot of 5.5's, 6s, and 6.5's. Or worse.

To me the stay at home mom had maybe the third most intriguing voice of the evening, and she couldn't even manage a one chair turn.  The country Cher guy (Taylor) was ballsy/quirky, but there wasn't a whole lot of "there" there when you really dug into his voice. Kawan was a'ight (I really hate that song in a competition format though), the first girl (Micah) who was putting vet school on hold was decent-ish (and some female eye candy if you are into that sort of contestant lol). The job employment girl (Missy) had no business getting any chairs to turn. I wasn't overwhelmed by Troy (I did absolutely love Wild World as a song choice though). Josh desperately needs Gwen's styling help. That was a tragic, tragic grunge inspired look. The purple haired girl (Gaby) was at least somewhat contemporary/current and maybe has enough of a distinctive look and sound to hang around a little while. You could see Gwen getting the Youtube girl (Aaliyah Rose) from about 12 miles away....

Edited March 7, 2017 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Jabu]

Team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam
Johnny Hayes (2)
Mark Isaiah (2)
Jesse Larson (1)
Julien Martinez (2)
Kawan DeBose (3)
Taylor Alexander (1)
Gaby Borromeo (2)
Josh West (4)

Team Gwen
JChosen (4)
Stephanie Rice (2)
Savannah Leighton (2)
Brandon Royal (2)
Troy Ramey (4)
Aaliyah Rose (1)

Team Alicia
Anatalia Villaranda (4)
Felicia Temple (3)
Autumn Turner (4)
Lilli Passero (3)
Quizz Swanigan (2)
Jack Cassidy (2)
Missy Robertson (2)

Team Blake
Lauren Duski (3)
Brennley Brown (2)
Aliyah Moulden (3)
Ashley Levin (3)
Casi Joy (4)
Micah Tryba (2)

Names in bold indicate artists who've newly joined a team.  The number in parentheses represents the number of chair turns.  An asterisk indicates that this artist was montaged.

[Dots And Stripes]

Thanks, Jabu for that list. So half of Adam's current team was picked-up tonight, on what I thought was a lack luster group.

Blake still has an all female team. I think Alicia told a male artist tonight that there was no one like him on Adam's team which I thought was a strange argument against Blake.

[Vyk]

I get that they had to catch Adam up with the other coaches, but really, Show?  Four fucking artists in one episode?  And only one for Blake?  I'm sorry, but you could've easily swapped one of his for any of the artists Blake might get in tomorrow's episode.  I really hope he only gets one or even none tomorrow to make up for that.  That was overly excessive on the editors' part.

On the upside, four episodes in and still no montages.  Good form, Show.  I still think we might have at least one set of montages coming down the pike, but for now, good on you for not putting out any just yet.

So the performances:

Micah Tryba: It is an extreme risk to cover a Whitney song (or Chaka Khan, as that was hers first, but she did Whitney's version).  Still, she did a fairly decent job with it.  I actually think she might've missed a trick by not going with Gwen, though.  We'll see if Blake does right by her, but I doubt it.

Troy Ramey: Gonna give a big, fat disagreement to @PhD-Purgatory15.  I loved his performance.  He hit on exactly what he was trying to do, and he made me feel.  I was shocked by his choice of Gwen, though.  Don't get me wrong.  I was happy for her to get another four-chair-turn, and I think she's a great fit for him based on the explanation he gave to her and Carson backstage.  I was jsut surprised that he didn't go with any of the others.  On another note, Gwen has accomplished a first for herself.  This is the first season in which she has nabbed more than one four-chair-turn at a time.  She only had Anita Antoinette in season seven, and she only had Lyndsey Elm (whom she sacked immediately in the Battles) in season nine.  Troy and JChosen make two four-chair-turns for her in season twelve.

Ericka Corban: I was definitely intrigued by her voice, but I could see perfectly well why no one turned.  She definitely lost control of her voice in places and had some major pitch issues because of it.  At other times, it just flat-out sounded and felt like her voice gave out.  She wasn't getting a turn with those issues.

Jack Cassidy: I thought he had a fine performance, but by no means a wonderful one.  But with his celebrity relations, I knew whoever got him would have a vote-getting beast, especially among older viewers who actually listened to and watched The Partridge Family.  He could either win the show for Alicia (if she doesn't do him wrong and stupidly sack him before the Lives) or at least go far with her.

Kawan DeBose: It was a good performance of an old Marvin Gaye song, but I'm shocked that Alicia didn't turn for him.  She said she had a similar voice on her team, but looking at the roster, whom could she have meant?  None of Anatalia, Felicia, Autumn, Lilli, or Quizz seem or sound similar to Kawan at all.  Anyway, based on the three who did turn for him, Adam was probably the best option for him.  So he finally got someone who may provide some actual strength to his team.  Unless he sacks him unwisely, of course.

Taylor Alexander: I agree with how ballsy he was to do a country version of a Cher song.  But I was floored that Blake didn't turn for him.  He of the country music should've been all over Taylor.  Absolutely.  Indeed . . . he just lets Adam have him?  WTF, Blake?!  Anyway, he'll be easy fodder on Adam's team, I think.  He doesn't hold onto one-chair-turns very long.

Gaby Borromeo: The performance was decent.  I'm not surprised she managed a two-chair-turn, per se, but . . . really?  She picks Adam just because he sympathizes with the difficulty and unpredictability of "production deals?"  Gaby, you might've screwed up by not picking Blake.  When, not if, Adam dumps you in the Battles in favor of one of his boys, you'd better hope for a steal.  Otherwise, you'll have no one to blame but yourself.

Griffin Tucker: While I admit he had a fairly good voice for his age, that was not a performance that warranted a chair turn.  Something about his voice just wasn't quite there yet.  If he comes back, though, he could be exceptional.  He just needs a bit more vocal training and coaching.

Missy Robertson: Another fine performance, but not wonderful.  Still, I do think she has a nice voice and she'll be more than fit for Team Alicia.  But because not a lot of time was spent on her, I can see her being a Battle casualty.

Aaliyah Rose: Surprised she only managed one turn.  I really thought Alicia would be interested in her, too.  Still, Gwen's got her young, pop teen girl, and she actually has a blank slate on whom to enact her vision in terms of her look, since God knows Aaliyah needs a viable makeover.  Also, I loved her getting a message from Meghan Trainor, who actually put up one of her performances.

Josh West: A very solid performance.  But honestly, once he was revealed to be a rocker, and then Adam listed off so many '90s rock groups that it was clear that Josh liked, his choice of Adam was inevitable.  Finally, Adam gets a four-chair-turn when his team is more than halfway full.  I think he could end up being his main horse, but given America's apparent aversion to rockers, I don't see him winning.  A rocker has never won, and I don't see one starting now.

Since the editors saw fit to give Adam four artists in one night, he needs to step back, and the editors now need to let Gwen and Blake catch up in tomorrow's episode.  It won't kill them to let Adam go one episode without getting an artist.  Hell, he went all of season eight's premiere without getting one, after all.

1 hour ago, Dots And Stripes said:

I think Alicia told a male artist tonight that there was no one like him on Adam's team which I thought was a strange argument against Blake.

Alicia doing that for Adam felt more like pity than anything else.  She's been friends with Adam for over fifteen years and probably wanted to see him start getting some artists.  Unfortunately, based on tonight's results, that backfired on her, because he started racking them up like mad.

Edited March 7, 2017 by Vyk

[PhD-Purgatory15]

To be fair, I didn't say I totally hated Troy's performance :-) I loved his choice of song (although as it went along, I did kind of wish he'd picked something else) and felt like he deserved to make somebody's team. But he wasn't 4 chair worthy in my eyes though, particularly coming right after Micah who honestly I would've judged as a better performance overall (despite it getting away from her slightly in the 2nd half of her performance).

More than anything, I think I was a little deflated, because when I saw the two seconds of Troy in the preview last week I mistakenly though the Voice had somehow finagled that Kris guy who went viral a couple months or so ago with his Simple Man cover singing in his vehicle with his daughter. That would've made me much, much happier.

I really feel like the editing monkeys definitely played a role in this episode. Their had to be some late in the audition process people whose turns came up when certain coaches already had full teams. Alicia for sure, and maybe Blake with Taylor and his Cher song....

[Valny]

Maybe it's me but that last guy with the hair (Josh?) I didn't think he was all that great, but he got four chairs so what do I know.

The Cassidy kid was ok, but I was hoping he'd knock it out of the park. Nice smile though. 

Did Blake say to Gwen something like, "do you want to give me a spanking":.. or am I going to get a spanking?"

Yeah, that one went over the cutesy line for me.

Edited March 7, 2017 by Valny

[Dots And Stripes]

11 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

 

I really feel like the editing monkeys definitely played a role in this episode. Their had to be some late in the audition process people whose turns came up when certain coaches already had full teams. Alicia for sure, and maybe Blake with Taylor and his Cher song....

I don't think it's likely Blake's team was full for the Cher song. He gave a reason for not turning, although given that he has no country male artists (bc he has no male artists) it's possible the audition was sometime later. I assume Blake still had a spot left though. I assume if Blake's team was full when that audition was filmed they would have just edited out any statement about his team status.

[SnarkyTart]

YAY! Finally found a second contestant from the blind auditions that I'd like to hear again: Kawan DeBose has a yummy voice.  A little too much melisma for my taste, but otherwise sweet and smooth as hell.   Now I can add him to Casi Joy, the only other contestant I've enjoyed, so far.  If at least these two stay in the competition for more than a minute, I'll be watching. 

[vb68]

I like Kawan, too.  He could sing, and he really had an engaging personality.

I have no idea what Troy was thinking in choosing Gwen. That completely surprised and confused the hell out of me.

Not gonna lie, I grew up on The Partridge Family and have been thinking about David a lot because of his health, so it's an interesting time for Jack to be on here. It's true the old fans might be a little more engaged now than they would have otherwise. Good to see Shirley being supportive. I know she discouraged the rest of her sons from following David's and Shaun's path to teenage pop stardom.

It really took that long to recognize Cher's song? Really? I remember the days when you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing that song over and over.

I like Alicia on the show. it's nice to have an adult in the room to cut through the jokes. Gwen seems to laugh at everything Blake and then Adam says.  

Quote

I think Alicia told a male artist tonight that there was no one like him on Adam's team which I thought was a strange argument against Blake.

Before Kawan even started, Alicia even said she was going "to try to get this one for Adam."  I'm assuming that's why she didn't turn around. It played like she was doing him a solid as he wasn't getting people (Troy, Jack). Who knows with the editing, but that's the narrative they were selling.

Edited March 7, 2017 by vb68

[Ellee]

So....I'm curious ...

I would probably listen to that young boy that sang an Elvis song before some of these other singers.  What did I miss?  

[Chyromaniac]

2 hours ago, Ellee said:

So....I'm curious ...

I would probably listen to that young boy that sang an Elvis song before some of these other singers.  What did I miss?

I thought that Tiny Elvis was solid, but that there wasn't a lot of nuance in his performance.  His vocal delivery probably at least needed some variation between soft and loud - it felt like the entire song was sung at 7 or 8/10 the whole way through.  I also didn't get an emotional connection with the lyrics, but of course that's subjective.  Otherwise, I kinda feel like a big part of his appeal is the novelty of "he's a little kid with a booming baritone" - there's nothing wrong with that, but obviously it's not going to help at this point on this show.

[TaraS1]

I was really shocked the long-haired kid at the end got four chairs.  There just wasn't much special about him to me, except for the fact that I think he looks exactly like Andre from the first season of The Real World.

[Wouldofshouldof]

Adam, yeah, if I were already on your team, and had to hear you tell someone that they'd be your #1 priority on your team, I wouldn't be happy.  

[Babalooie]

10 hours ago, Vyk said:

But I was floored that Blake didn't turn for him

I always think that there's monkey business going on behind the scenes.  I figured that Blake may actually know Taylor and sat out. I figure that he may know quite a few of the contestants from Nashville because I would imagine that he makes the rounds listening to performers on Music Row.    Sorry, I wasn't impressed at all with the Cassidy kid.  I'm very familiar with the CC style of music.  I love the way Kawan can work the stage.  He got that experience from church, too.

[Misslindsey]

Quote

I like Alicia on the show. it's nice to have an adult in the room to cut through the jokes. Gwen seems to laugh at everything Blake and then Adam says.  

This. I like Alicia on the show as well. I like that she does not seem to have time for any ridiculous shenanigans. I get that Gwen in dating Blake (I mean it is never mentioned at all), but she laughs at everything he says. I kept thinking it was because I loathe Blake, so I am glad you said it too. I was over Blake's jokes about Adam's cardigan during the first episode. I guess Blake does not wear stripes.

[viajero]

I thought Kawan was the overall best of the night; the only performer who offered very good vocals with a natural stage presence.  I also really liked Josh. Part of it may be that rock has become underrepresented on recent seasons of The Voice, but I was also impressed by his vocal range and swagger on stage. If not for her shaky first 10 seconds or so, I would probably put Gaby right up there with the first two as she really soared through the rest of the song.

16 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

To be fair, I didn't say I totally hated Troy's performance :-) I loved his choice of song (although as it went along, I did kind of wish he'd picked something else) and felt like he deserved to make somebody's team. But he wasn't 4 chair worthy in my eyes though, particularly coming right after Micah who honestly I would've judged as a better performance overall (despite it getting away from her slightly in the 2nd half of her performance).

While I didn't hate Troy's performance either, I found it to be very underwhelming.  For me, Troy and the Cassidy kid were the most boring of the evening.  There was nothing major technically wrong with either performance, but both seem to have a limited vocal range and there was no "wow" factor.  Part of the problem may be that I really like the songs they covered and they both not only fell far short of the original versions, but also of previous covers done on these shows.

[Vyk]

18 hours ago, vb68 said:

I have no idea what Troy was thinking in choosing Gwen. That completely surprised and confused the hell out of me.

Probably the same thing JChosen was thinking -- that Gwen was less likely to pick up another singer like him on her team.  Another singer in his lane and/or wheelhouse.  If Gwen gets no one else like Troy, he'll have no competition on her team and thus not get lost in the shuffle.  She'll keep advancing him past the various rounds leading up to the Lives.

[Padma]

I could happily go through a whole season without hearing anyone sing about God. However, Jack seems to actually "live it" and seemed like a nice person. He did not, imo, seem like a singer who should advance to the Lives, much less into the finals, so I hope he doesn't just cash in on the Cassidy fan base. (And for people of a certain generation, his father--the barely mentioned Patrick Cassidy--was far and away the best looking of the bunch.  Also, re: the family. It might have been nice in his intro to have mentioned his grandmother's Best Actress Oscar in a drama. "The Partridge Family" is a much beloved tv show, but to those who know her career, it seems more like the low point for Jones, not the high.)

I liked that Taylor* turned Cher's song into country. And I was glad that his risk was rewarded and that it was Adam who got him (fodder for sure). Without that (welcome) gimmick, he was extremely generic, nothing about his voice that would have interested Blake.

*corrected--tx, Vyk!

Edited March 9, 2017 by Padma

[Vyk]

4 hours ago, Padma said:

I liked that Troy turned Cher's song into country.

That was Taylor, not Troy.

[Valny]

It's not just me right?  Gwen has the worst pitches.

[Vyk]

28 minutes ago, Valny said:

It's not just me right?  Gwen has the worst pitches.

It's just you.  Her pitches have gotten quite a bit better since she was last here in season nine.

[Padma]

I was going to compliment Gwen's pitches, too, this season.  She tries a variety of things--emotional connections ("The way you sang that really moved me so much"), experience ("I started at 15 with my own band and understand the struggles in this business") -- all of which is superior to last  year's "I can do your makeup and clothes! We can go shopping together!"  Even her repeated, "I'm a girl--I know what that's like in this business, but I also worked in a band that was all men, so I  understand that, too" isn't as objectionable this time because (1) it really IS a way she's different from the other coaches and (2) she's not using it that much anymore.

I enjoy Alicia's no-drama presence and that she doesn't feel the need to compete for attention with Adam's "Where do I fit now in this love triangle?", Gwen's mooniness over Blake and hearty laugh at everything he says, and Blake's ever-present humor (plus only occasional inappropriate reference to The Relationship).  Alicia seems very comfortable with herself--warm, supportive and even her low-key pitches strike a pleasant balance.

I like the group and Blake and Adam have each had a funny line or two and are both quick.  As for B&G, we saw them as a couple last season so I don't know why this is so different, but they're definitely emphasizing it more. On the one hand, it's kind of sweet to see a real life celebrity couple on television who are genuinely in love. On the other hand, We. Know.  I hope it can recede in the background during the lives, since I'm guessing that editors have a lot to work with during long days of taping and, for whatever reason, have decided to go with this.

I'm also curious how much the narrative that Adam is struggling to get people is true. My guess is...not very. Although replacing his usual promises that "I know I can win with you" with "You'll be the #1 priority on Team Adam" took it to a new level of desperation (and reason to not choose him, not trust him. How many of those he's promised to take to the end were dumped before the Lives? I only remember two, but I have a feeling there were many.  The only reason I'd ever choose Adam would be if the whole thing was just for fun and I wanted to see what kind of musical experiments he would try with me. If I had my "lane" already and was serious about a career, I'd choose anyone else.) 

[Vyk]

4 hours ago, Padma said:

I'm also curious how much the narrative that Adam is struggling to get people is true. My guess is...not very.

Oh, very much true, actually.  Behinds the scenes buzz from people who actually went to the tapings said that he only got two people on the first day -- one in the morning, one in the afternoon.  (They divide the tapings over four days into the morning hours and the afternoon hours and adjourn sometime at night.)  The second day, he also only got two.  He apparently didn't start picking up till the third day.  This tells me that artists really are wising up to him if he started out that roughly.

[teapot100]

This season seems boring already. The only contestant I've really liked thus far is JChosen. Kawan was good too, but he seemed more affected.

Also, very surprised that JChosen and Troy both picked Gwen, esp. the latter. I wonder if they see resonated with her more re: what she said to them and also she is the only one, I think, that has had recent commercial success. I know Alicia just put out an album in 2016 too, but it didn't generate quite the same level of buzz that Gwen's did. 

Love Alicia Keys - she's very much the adult in that group, right, and very on point with her observations. She is gorgeous without make-up. Gwen, on the other hand, is looking like she's had some fillers and other work done. :( Just so I am not just commenting on the women, love Adam's striped jacket and his dance moves. :)

[waving feather]

On 3/10/2017 at 9:56 PM, teapot100 said:

Gwen, on the other hand, is looking like she's had some fillers and other work done. :(

Even so, that woman has an amazing figure at 47. How does she maintain that well, just boggles my mind.